I was at a church meeting last night here at Victory Baptist Church, and the Pastor there was a US Marine Veteran who had both his legs blown off by stepping on a land mine. Since then, God has called Him to be a evangelist, spreading the Gospel of Jesus throughout the land. Well, he was talking about the book of Revelation (the last book in the Bible), specifically the Great White Throne Judgment. That is when EVERYONE who ever lived will come and stand before Gods throne and be judged one by one. There will be many people there who will be saying Lord, I did this for you, or Lord, I did that for you…etc but that is not going to matter anymore. What will matter is if our names are written in the Book of Life. One by one God will judge us and will either say “Well done, my good and faithful servant” or “depart from me, I never knew you”. If He says well done, that means we will be entering Gods Kingdom of Heaven to live forever and ever But if He says depart from me, we will spend eternity in Hell, which is not the pleasant place that the world portrays it to be. In Hell there is a flame that never stops burning, and the Bible says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, not the big party that some seem to think it will be. Its not a place to reunite with your friends, because if we could fully understand how horrible it really is there, we wouldn’t even want our worst enemy to be there.

That’s when I started imagining even just one person…that I love…having to go to that awful place. After we die it is too late to do anything about it, but we can make a choice now while we are alive. I don’t want ANYONE be cast into the lake of fire and I’m sure that no one would want to go there either if they really understood how awful it will be.

You see, back in 2002 when I realized that if I died then, I would spend an eternity in Hell…I began searching for answers. Most of those answers I found in the Bible, some I found through asking others who knew the Truth. I wanted to know why God created a Hell if He really loved us like the Bible says He does. I didn’t understand why He would send anyone there if He really loved us. The thing is, He doesn’t send us there. That was one of the most important things that I discovered.

I’m going to try to explain this as simple as possible because the Gospel is not complicated , its so simple a child can understand. I hope that you keep reading through till the end of this letter.

God didn’t create Hell for us to go to. He created it for the Devil and his demons. The Devil isn’t that scary little red man with a long tail and a pitchfork like the world always seems to say he is. He was actually once one of Gods angels in Heaven, and not just an angel, but the Bible says he was one of the most beautiful angels that God created. But then Satan decided he was an equal to God, and then deceived many angels into following him, in an attempt to overthrow God. Because of this, he was cast out of Heaven along with his fallen angels. Satan was so angry with God and he hates Him so much because Satan is pure evil and he will do anything he can to stand in Gods way and to get even. That is why Hell was created, so that one day Satan will be cast in there with his followers. Whoever chooses to follow Satan will be cast into the lake of fire with him.

God created earth, and everything that exists. Back when Adam and Eve were created, there was no death because there was no evil in them. But satan hated God so much and hated mankind so much that he wanted to destroy us. That’s when he tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the tree that God had told them not to. When they ate, their eyes were opened to good and evil and God had cursed their sinfulness with death. That is why we die.

When we are born, we are born of Adams seed and therefore are born into sin. The Bible says that ALL have sinned, in Romans 3:23 (look it up…don’t take my word for it). Then in Romans 6:23 God says that the price we have to pay for sin, is death. God is such a Holy God that He can not even look upon sin. That is why absolutely NO sin can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Sin has to be judged and God is that judge.

Okay so maybe you are wondering what exactly is sin. Well, the 10 commandments are a good guideline to begin with. If we have ever told a lie, that makes us a liar. If we have ever stolen, that makes us a thief. If we ever looked at someone in a lustful way, that makes us an adulterer. Another commandment is thou shall not murder. You know what Jesus said about that? “anyone who HATES another is guilty of murder”. We all know what is right and wrong, our conscience tells us that. Our society even sets some standards of morals for us to follow. So its easy to see that everyone has sinned.

So, how can we ever be made right with God then…if we are such sinners, how can any of us ever be good enough to enter into Heaven? How can we be forgiven? Traditionally, people who sinned would sacrifice an animal on the alter for remissions of sin. But the bible says that the sacrifices made by the wicked(those who just do it to be ’cleaned’ of sins, but do not have a repenting heart, or who aren’t sincere in reconciling from God and turning from their sins) are abominations to the Lord. Proverbs 15:8 says “The sacrifices of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is His delight.“ We are all wicked and unclean, and a Holy Sacrifice was needed to cleanse us with pure blood for our sins. Now if no man could present an acceptable offering to the Lord due to our wickedness, how is it possible for us to be saved? Almost two thousand years ago, God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our wickedness. Isaiah 53:5-6 says “But He (Jesus) was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities… by His (Jesus) wounds, we are healed. Like sheep, we all have gone astray; We have all turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.“ You see, Jesus was the Holy Sacrifice sent by God to pay the price of our sins; the penalty of death was paid by His blood. God loved us so much, that He Sent HIS OWN Son to suffer and die on the cross for our sins… so that we may be saved. But to be condemned, all it takes is just one little lie; that is enough sin to keep us out of Gods Kingdom.

Therefore, unlike the rest of mankind, Jesus was born spotless and without any sin at all. Jesus was born not of man, but of God. Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born, conceived by the Holy Spirit sent by God. He lived a Holy, Righteous Life; completely blameless in the eyes of God. Jesus was 100% man, and also 100% God. If you find that hard to understand, its okay. You don’t have to understand it, only believe.

Jesus whole purpose of being sent to this earth, was to be the final sacrifice for our sins. Why did God do this??? This was His ONLY begotten Son, and we were all filthy sinners in His eyes. He did it because He loved us all so much, even in our sinful condition. He loves us and doesn’t want ANY of us to spend eternity in Hell. He knew we couldn’t be perfect How did Jesus live such a perfect sinless life? Because He is God in the flesh. God became a man…left His throne up there in Heaven and came to this earth in the flesh and lived the life of a poor servant. He didn’t even have a bed to lay his head when he was born, just an old feeding trough that animals ate out of. But that is the humble mercy and love of our God.

Jesus grew up, and preached the Gospel saving all who were willing to believe. The Bible tells us that just before Jesus was arrested, He went to a garden alone to pray. He must have been in so much emotional agony knowing what was about to come in the next few hours. He even prayed that if there was ANY other way…to do it so He wouldn’t have to go through all that. See, He was human, and knew the pain was going to be unbearable. But He also said that night, for the Fathers will to be done, not His. There was no other way. He could have refused to go through with it, but He didn’t. He loved us too much. He willingly was beaten beyond recognition, and spat on, and cursed, then nailed to a cross to die. He could have so easily said FATHER, take me down from here. But He knew what the cost was, and the cost was the sins of the world. He loved us all too much, even before we were even born, He knew us and loved us and died on that cross for YOU and for me. Just before He died, John 19:30 tells us that Jesus said, “it is finished”. All our sins were poured on Him that day. When Jesus died, the final sacrifice was complete. Our sin payment had been paid in full so long as you call upon the name of Jesus, our Lord. For it is written, that noone may come to the Father (God) except through Jesus Christ. The death of Gods Son was sufficient and fulfilled Gods plan of salvation. Jesus paid a dept that non of us ever could pay. With the shedding of His own blood, we can now have access to the Father in Heaven, IF and ONLY IF, we repent…are truly sorry for our sin, and accept the free gift of sacrifice that Jesus paid for us on that day.

Three days after Jesus gave His life for us, He rose back to life again and ascended into Heaven. He said in John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Fathers house are many mansions: If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Jesus is not dead, He is alive and is coming back again someday. When he comes back, then it will be too late to make your decision. So, before we die, or before He returns, whatever happens first…we need to choose if we are going to BY FAITH…trust Jesus for our salvation…or if we are going to keep going our own way, following satan into Hell. If we fail to make a choice, that is still rejecting Christ. Faith is believing things that we cannot see. An example of what faith is, would be when Jesus appeared to His disciples when they were in a home… The door was closed and Jesus appeared, for one of His disciples were doubting Him, having no faith. Thomas, who wanted to see the wounds on Christ, saw Jesus with the rest of the disciples. Jesus told Thomas to touch His hands where the nails pierced through, and to thrust his hand into His side, where the spear pierced without breaking a bone. And Jesus told Thomas to not be faithless but believing. Thomas answered saying “My Lord and my God.” And Jesus said “Thomas, because though has seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

God doesn’t want any of us to go to Hell. But if we refuse to accept the gift of eternal life that He is offering us through trusting in Jesus, we are choosing our own damnation. You probably know the verse John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God knows our hearts, our thoughts and everything we ever did or will ever do. We cant fool God. He sees what we are doing and where we are at in our lives, and you know what? Despite all of our evil desires, and all our bitterness and our messed up lives, He loves us more than we could even begin to imagine. I don’t know why He loves us as much as He does, but I’m sure glad that He doesJ

Satan knows that he cant do anything to us unless God allows him to do it, and he also knows that there is a way that we can be saved from an eternal separation from God in Hell that he is going to be facing in the end. Most people think satan is that lil red devil and they think he is already in Hell, or that he is the one who is in control of hell, that he is down there poking lost souls with his pitchfork…well, this just is NOT true. Satan will be among the ones who will be suffering in agony for an eternity when God casts him into the lake of fire. He has no control at all over who goes there or who wont go there. He is here in this world, even now. Satan is here tempting and lying to whoever will believe him. Of course he feeds us many kinds of lies, always promising so many good things but every single thing that he promises is a lie, and all the things that we obtain from believing his lies are empty and hollow with no satisfaction. Nothing satan offers us can satisfy. God tells us in the Bible that satan is a liar. You see, satan knows God’s word. Even he believes that God exists, and he trembles. He knows how everything is going to turn out in the end, and he hates mankind so much that he wants as many souls as he can get to suffer in Hell right along with him. That’s his whole purpose, to destroy those who God loves.

But through Jesus, we have power to overcome the ways of this world. We can be different, we don’t have to buy into all the lies that are being fed to us daily. Jesus died on that cross for a reason, it wasn’t in vain. He suffered and died so that we wont have to die the second death; a death of our souls. That means, if we die the second death, our souls will be separated from God for eternity, and spend eternity in Hell.. Not one hair upon our head will go into hell if we just call out to Jesus. He is waiting, and wants so much to save everyone. But the Bible tells us that the road is narrow that leads to eternal life and few will find it, but the path to destruction is so wide. Don’t take that wide road, there is no lasting pleasure that this world can offer. The only true source of Joy comes from the hope we have of an eternal life with Jesus. Just think about it, when we know Jesus, there is no death. Yes, our bodies will one day die unless Jesus returns before then. But our soul will never die. You know as well as I do how short life is and how empty it can be. Well one thing I promise you, it will never be empty again if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save you.

You are probably thinking, well…I do too many things that I don’t want to give up right now. I don’t think God would want me as long as I’m doing this. I have to clean up my life first, make everything right before I can expect anything from God. THAT IS SO WRONG!!! I too once believed that. I used to smoke, and do A LOT of things in my past that I’m not at all proud of. I used to lie, steal, cheat, drink, smoke, party, and look out only for myself. I was a lover of money and pleasure rather than a lover of God. But one night I had enough of the emptiness. With my messed up life, in the middle of my sinful living, I bowed down before God and asked Jesus to save me. I told Him that I cant do it on my own, because I just didn’t know how. Do you know what happened? Jesus saved me. Without Him in our lives, we have no power to stop doing the things that we do. We have no power over sin. But God wants us to come to Him just the way that we are…no matter what it is we are doing in our lives. If we are drunks, liars, thieves, addicts, homosexuals, adulterers or murderers…God wants us to come to Him. All we have to do is admit that our lives are messed up, that we know we are heading for hell, and we need a savior. If you ask Jesus to be your Savior, He will NEVER ever turn you away. And Jesus, entering your heart through Faith, will transform you into a new Life. You will be born again, not of the fleshly desires, but of Heavenly desires. You will be a completely new person! There is nothing complicated to it. It has nothing to do with religion, denomination, baptism or any of the other many types of works there are out there today. It is simply a relationship between you and your creator who loves you so much.

There is nothing we can do to earn or work our way into Heaven. It doesn’t matter if we are a good person who would do anything at all for anyone. It doesn’t matter if we are honest and well looked upon in the community. The most well respected and loving person is just as lost as the most vile murderer if they do not know Jesus as their Savior. Jesus says that if we acknowledge Him before man here on earth, that He will acknowledge us before His Father in Heaven (Luke 12: 8-9). There is only one way to get to Heaven, through a relationship with Jesus. The Bible says that there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Only though the precious blood of Jesus.

Sometimes we think a lot of things, and wonder how can it be possible that a Holy God would go through all that just to save someone like me from Hell. Well, it is because He loves us with an everlasting love, that is not partial. God does not have favorites. He hates the sin we do, but He loves the sinner with a love that we cannot ever even begin to imagine. The Bible tells us that all love comes from God, because God is love. So when we get thinking and wondering all those things, like I don’t feel like I’m worthy or I’m not good enough, etc. Well, its true, we are not worthy…but Jesus died for us anyways. So don’t trust your feelings, trust Gods Word. It is the only thing you can be sure of.